Tavares Replaces Acting Police Chief

July 25, 1985|By Barbara Stewart of The Sentinel Staff

TAVARES — Acting Police Chief Jim Chandler was replaced Wednesday by a sharply divided city council although the members agreed their only complaint against him was his attempt to resign on short notice.

On a similar 3 to 2 vote, council members decided to hire Ray Newman, an assistant director of the Lake County Area Vocational-Technical Center, as interim police chief until new city administrator Anthony Otte starts work in a month and hires a permanent chief.

Councilman Richard Swartz, who was on the losing end of both votes, called the decision to let Chandler go ''disgusting,'' and predicted it would hurt morale among police and other city employees. ''It was as bad a thing as this council ever has done,'' he said.

Swartz also accused Council President Robert Moore of violating the city charter when he dealt directly with the chief, instead of going through the

acting city administrator.

Moore, in voting against Chandler, said the chief's decision to quit with two days' notice was unprofessional and had destroyed the chief's effectiveness as a leader. Chandler had submitted his resignation Monday, saying Moore was making it impossible to do his job. He tried to withdraw the resignation Tuesday after talking with Swartz and other city officials.

Councilman Sandy Minkoff sided with Swartz at Wednesday's meeting, saying that a vote to accept Chandler's resignation was tantamount to firing him. There was no reason to fire Chandler and plenty of reason to keep him, Minkoff said. ''He's done a good job,'' Minkoff said. ''His employees support him; the community supports him.''

Council members Lillian Burd and Tommy Tamsett voted with Moore to accept Chandler's resignation. ''He wanted to go,'' Burd said.

''He doesn't want to go now,'' Minkoff said.

''Tough,'' Burd replied.

Acting City Manager Roger Pattullo said he had received no complaints about Chandler's performance as police chief. Though it was his responsibility to accept the resignation, Pattullo said Wednesday he preferred to have council guidance on the matter.

Chandler tried to quit over an incident two weeks ago in which police responded to an urgent call for help from Moore. Though Chandler later received a message from one of Moore's employees to cancel the call, he refused to do so. Moore could have been in trouble, Chandler said, and the police department would have been negligent by not following up on the call.

Moore subsequently ordered the chief into his city hall office and sharply criticized him for ''melodramatic overreaction,'' Chandler said in a written statement.

Chandler said that Moore was hostile and told Chandler, ''You've lost my support. You can write me off.'' Chandler said that Moore swore at him during that discussion and others.

Moore said the criticism was private and took place behind closed doors. He said his complaints carried no more weight than any argument between a citizen and a police officer.

He said he had no other complaints about Chandler's performance. He denied swearing at Chandler and said he did not pressure the chief to quit. Moore said that Chandler used the disagreement to ''take shots at me in the newspaper.'' Moore said that his political opponent, Swartz, was taking advantage of the incident to discredit him.

Chandler, who has worked in law enforcement for 28 years, plans to accept a job in another field in Orlando.

Ray Newman, who will take over the chief's job today, said he does not want to keep the job permanently, but hopes to bring stability to it until a chief is hired. Newman worked as a police officer for 15 years in Avon Park and Winter Haven and has a master's in criminal justice from Rollins College. He headed up the criminal justice department at Vo-Tech before being promoted to his current position.